Apparatus for cleansing harbors.



No. 833,543. A PATENTED OUT. 16, 1906. J. W. PARKER. APPARATUS FORCLEANSING HARBORS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY24. 1905.

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THE NORRIS psi-ER: Cm, WASHINGTON, n. c.

No. 833,543. PATENTED, OCT, 16, 1906. J. W. PARKER.

APPARATUSFOR CLEANSING HARBORS.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 24.1905.

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PATENTED 001. 16, 1906. PARKER.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

A A .\\\\\QW% A A Noi J. W APPARATUS FOR CLEANSING HARBORS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 24.1906.

a a m e W THE NOIIYRIS PETERS 00., WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 24,1905. Serial No. 271,107.

Patented Oct. 16, 1906.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. PARKER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing in Mexico city, in the Republic of Mexico, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for CleansingHarbors, of which the following is a specification.

Theobject of my invention is to provide apparatus for the practiceof themethod of cleansing and keeping cleansed land-locked harbors opening tothe sea, described in my companion application filed herewith. As setforth in the said companion application, I designate by the termland-locked harbor any bay or harbor which is either entirely devoid ofrivers or streams from the landward s de emptying into it or one inwhich the current or currents setting in from the sea so farpreponderate in force or volume, or both, over those setting toward thesea as to produce stagnation in and fouling of the water of the harbor.

One ultimate purpose of my invention is bythe cleansing of harbors toeradicate the seeds of diseases which have their origin in and arefostered by the accumulation of filth.

Another purpose is to provide for keeping .a channel open in a harbor ofthe class specified against such obstruction, which under naturalconditions accumulates in the form of sedimentary or sand deposits.

In order to accomplish the end in view, I provide opposite the open seaany suitable means which may be preferred adapted through utilization ofthe force of impact or dash of the waves to produce and preserve aconstant head of water higher than the mean level of the sea and alsomeans for compelling or permitting efflux of said head of water, asthrough a canal, entering the bay from its upper or landward end throughthe harbor exclusively. By this method uninterrupted discharge into thebay of clean salt-water in great volume may be efiected. An accumulationof water in the bay is by such means obtained when the tide is coming ingreatly in excess of that which flows into it through the naturalentrance. Not only does the influx of the clean salt-water into the baytend in itself to purify the harbor, but its discharge with the outflowof the ebb-tide, followed, as it is, by uninterrupted influx into theupper end of the bay, as above specified, effects the scouring of achannel through the harborbottom between the mouth of the canalaforesaid and the strait which defines the mouth of the harbor.

What constitutes my invention will be hereinafter specified in detailand succinctly set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which c0nstitute a part of thisspecification, Figure I is a plan representing, by way of example andwithout any attempt at-geographical exactitude, the harbor of Havana, inthe island of Cuba. Fig. II is a top plan view, partially in skeleton,of a floating apron, presented as a preferred construction of thewave-entrapping apparatus of the preferred form of headproducingmechanism adapted for the practice of my invention. Fig. III is alongitudinal vertical section as on the line III III of Fig. II.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, 1 indicates the shore-line ofa bay or .harbor 2, whose entrance is the strait 3, opening into the sea4.

5 indicates that part of the bay which in the foregoing specification Ihave designated the upper end of the harbor and between which and thestrait 3 is confined, in a bay of the same general type as thatillustrated, that accumulation of filth or sedimentary or sand depositwhich it is the object of my invention to provide means of eliminating.

7 indicates a canal or Waterway affording means of direct communicationbetween the open sea 4 and the upper end 5 of the bay.

8, in Fig. I, indicates the head-producing mechanism, illustrated indetail in the remaining figures of the drawings and which is in practicelocated at the intake end of the canal at any point where it may bedirectly exposed to the action of the waves of the sea at all tides.

The head-producing mechanism may be of any known or preferred type, thatillustrated being deemed to be simple, strong, and durable, andtherefore referred. The function required of it is t at it shall receivethe largest available volume of each wave that is presented to it abovethe mean level of the sea and having received the same that it shallprevent efflux thereof save through the waterway or canal provided forits discharge in the manner and for the purpose intended and specified.Through the employment of such a device whose use for other purposesthan those set forth herein is well known in the art relating to wavepowers it is practicable to produce and to preserve a constantlyhigherlevel of water within the canal 7 than 'the varying mean level of thesea without.

The two levels changewith the rise and fall of the tide; but at alltides there is a differential of levels or head which producescontinuously a flow through the canal 7 and discharge therefrom into theend 5 of the bay 2. The force and volume of the current flowing throughthe canal 7 is determined by the head, whose height is in large measuredependent upon the force and frequency of the waves which break againstand operate the mechanism of the head-producing apparatus. Since,however, it is the differential of levels that is relied upon to do thework intended and since there is always some motion of the sea towardthe shore, even inits calmest state, my apparatus may be at all timesdepended upon for performance of the function re quired of it, properprovision being made to meet the exigency of storms or the like. Thenecessity for such provision is taken into account in the constructionof the head-producing mechanism herein specified, the details of whichare shown in Figs. II and III of the drawings, as aforesaid. Referringto those figures, 10 and 11 indicate massive abutments, preferably ofconcrete or reinforced'concrete construction, which flank the intake endof the canal 7 and define between them the intake. 12, in Fig. III,indicates the side wall of the canal 7, which may be ar tificiallysupported or not as the conditions of the earth through which it is cutnecessitate. 13 indicates the floor of the canal. 14 indicates the floorof the apron-case or exca vation provided for the wave-entrappingmechanism, specifically herein denominated the apron. On the seawardside is employed a'ledge 15 of natural formation when such formation isavailable, but which may be made of or reinforced by artificial means ifneed be, as of concrete or reinforced concrete construction, extendingbetween and beyond the abutments 10 and 11 defining the front of theapron-case. Its surface may -be lo cated approximately at, but notbelow, the low-tide level. One of its important functions in respect tothe wave-entrapping mechanism is to efford secure and stable anchoragefor the fixed members of the hinge connection of the apron. The saidfixed members are preferably the inwardly-projecting ends 17 ofcross-pieces 18, incorporated at suitable regular intervals in a unitaryframing structure built of massive structural iron or steel channels,the stringers whereof are indicated by the reference-numerals 19,0fwhich two, extending between the abutments 10 and 11, are illustrated inFigs. II and III of the drawings. The stringers, although, in effect,continuous between the abutments, may be in respect to detail ofconstruction segregated into lengths corresponding to the distancebetween the respective cross-pieces 18, to which they may be rivetedthrough the intervention of angle-plates 20 of familiar use in suchconstruction. (See Fig. III of the drawings.) The framing structure,built as above speci fied or in any other suitable manner preferred, isimmovably fixed to the top of the ledge 15, as by anchor-bolts 21,disposed at frequent and proper intervals throughout the framingstructure and deeply embedded and secured in the body of the ledge, asshown, for example, in Fig. II of the drawings.

The apron is a suitable structure provided near its inner or free sidewith buoy and means of support and hinged at the opposite side to theframing structure above described or its equivalent. I prefer to buildthe apron of sections of channel iron or steel substantially in the samemanner as the framing structure specified is built, the apronstring ersbeing indicated by the reference-numeral 25, the apron cross-pieces by26, and the apron angle-plates, through whose intervention the membersand 26 may be united, by the numerals 27. The apron cross-pieces 26being disposed at proper intervals to correspond with the disposition ofthe crosspieces 18 play against the cross-pieces 18, respectively, andare hinged thereto, as by bolts or suitable hinge connection 28. Thebolt or bolts 28 passes or pass through horizontally-elongatedapertures, one being indicated by the numeral 29 in Fig. III of thedrawings, in order to afford a loose joint for the rise and fall of theapron, whose crosspiece ends 30 preferably abut against the face 31 ofthe ledge 15. The face 31 may be provided with a suitable bearing plateor plates 32 to receive the end thrust of the apron cross-pieces 26.

The entire surface of the framing structure and the apron when hingedthereto is covered with a suitable skin 35, extending, in effect, overthe entire surface of the said two structures. It should be durable,flexible, and sufficiently strong and water-tight to prevent anyconsiderable efflux of water from the canal after having been entrappedtherein. I prefer to make the skin of copper, which will last well insalt-water and is sufi iciently pliable to accommodate for a long timewithout breaking the rise and fall of the apron upon its hingeconnection to the framing structure. The copper skin, which, although,in effect, continuous, may be of course made up of plate-sectionsriveted or otherwise properly assembled, is suitably secured, as byrivets, to the respective structures which it covers and preferably hasits seaward edge 36 (see Fig. III) depressed and well embedded. in theland to protect it from being undermined or ripped off by the action ofthe waves. 4

The buoyant means of support provided for the apron is indicated byreference- IIO numeral 37, designating an air-tank, or it may be aplurality of air-tanks, secured to the inner side of the apron near itsfree end and of required calculated dimensions to float the apron.

The means provided to protect the apron from injury during a storm, forinstance, or whenever the violence of frequency of the waves mightpossibly upset it or strain its skin at or above its hinge connectionmay be a chain 38, fastened at one end, as indicated at 39, to the apronand at the other, as indicated at 40, an anchor-bolt 41, properlyembedded. in the canal-wall. The length of such a chain may determinethe limit of the rise of the apron. A number of chains distributed alongthe length of the apron would in practice be employed.

The operation of my apparatus may be briefly described as follows:Suppose, for the purposes of this explanation, the apparatus,substantially as specified, to be duly installed and in working order,the top of the apron to be on a level with the top of the framingstructure and exposed to the action of the waves. The top of the'ledge15 being postulated as located at or above low-tide level, thewater-level in the canal 7 may be as sumed to correspond with thesea-level and the free end of the apron to be afloat with the bottom ofthe tank 37, safely lifted above striking distance of the floor 14 ofthe aproncase. Thereupon and thereafter a portion of the volume of eachwave that dashes against the apron drives over it into the canal and istherein entrapped by the apron. The accumulation of the entrapped waterof the succession of waves produces and preserves the head required forthe performance of the specified function required of it and forthwithcommences and continues to perform its cleansing office, substantiallyin the manner hereinbefore set forth. With the rise and the fall of thetide the head is preserved as a relatively constant quantity by reasonof the always present differential of levers in the canal and in the seaor bay, respectively.

It may be observed that no dimensions are set forth in the foregoingspecification. They are omitted, not only because they are in no wiseessential to the explication of the principle of the invention, but alsobecause they should be calculated in every instance of proposed use tomeet the local conditions presented.

What I claim is 1. The combination with a shore-line defining a harborand a sea-front, of always open means of communication between thesea-waves and the harbor, and wave-entrapping mechanism located in said'means of communication.

1 2. The combination with a shore-line defining a harbor and asea-front, of means of communication between the sea-front and theharbor, and wave-entrapping mechanism operative by wave impact andlocated in the intake of said means of communication.

3. The combination with a shore-line defining a harbor and a sea-front,and a canal establishing communication between the seafront and theharbor, and provided with an intake at its seaward end, ofwave-entrapping mechanism in said intake.

4. In apparatus for the pur ose specified, the combination with the intae end of a canal, of an apron-case therein, and a floating apronoperatively mounted therein.

5. In apparatus for the purpose s ecified, the combination withabutments an a ledge defining the intake end of a canal and aproncasetherein, of a floating apron hinged to said ledge.

6. In apparatus for the purpose s ecified, the combination withabutments an a ledge defining the intake end of a canal and aproncasetherein, of a floating apron hinged to slaid ledge, said apron beingprovided with a s 1n.

7. In apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination withabutments and a ledge defining the intake end of a canal, and apronca-setherein, of a floating apron hinged to said led e, said apron and ledgebeing covered wit a skin.

8. In apparatus for the purpose s ecified, the combination withabutments an a ledge defining the intake end of a canal, and aproncasetherein, of a floating apron hinged to said ledge, said apron and ledgebeing covered with a flexible skin in effect continuous.

9. In apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination withtheintake end of a canal having an apron-case provided with a frontdefining ledge, of a framing structure anchored to the ledge, and afloating apron hinged to the framing structure.

10. In apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with theintake end of a canal having an apron-case provided with a frontdefining led e, of a framing structure anchored to the ledge andprovided with cross-pieces constituting fixed hinge memhers, and afloating apron hinged to said crosspieces.

11. In apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with theintake end of a canal having an apron-case provided with a frontdefining led e, of a framing structure anchored to the edge and providedwith cross-pieces constituting fixed hinge members, and a floating apronhaving correspond.- ing cross-pieces hinged to the first-namedcross-pieces.

12. In apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with theintake end of a canal having an apron-case provided with a frontdefining led e, of a framing structure anchored to the edge and providedwith cross-pieces constituting fixed hinge members, and a floating apronhaving corresponding cross; pieces hinged to the firstnamed cross-piecesby a loose connection, and means upon the wall of said ledge forresisting the end thrust of the apron cross-pieces.

13. In apparatus for the purpose specified, the combination with theintake end of a canal provided with wave-entrapping mechanism includinga floating apron as set forth, of a skin covering said apron and havingits outer edge embedded in the earth.

14. In apparatus for the purpose specified,

the combination with the intake end of a canal provided withwave-entrapping mechanism including a floating apron as set forth, ofmeans for limiting the rise of the free end of said apron.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

JOHN W. PARKER.

Witnesses:

OURT BECK, GRAHAM M. KER.

